Week 3 is unofficially our last week of the hunt. Its the last week that everyone is up there. Todd and I went up Tuesday night. Jana stayed home this time for work. Chris and Kennedy came up Wednesday night. So did Dad. Phil came up Thursday afternoon.
Tuesday night when we got there Todd and I hurried and changed and headed into our normal spot. We didnt have anything come into us but he spotted some elk on another hillside. We went back to Todds trailer for BLT's minus the L.. we forgot that part and watched Maverick.
Wednesday morning we went back into our normal spots and again nothing. We saw the elk on a hillside across from us this time and decided to walk over there that next morning and check it out since we'd seen them there twice in the mornings. That night we went to a different spot to hunt with mom. Chico came along with us.
Wednesday night we were having chicken nuggets and fries and finishing up Maverick when Chris and Kennedy pulled in. I hadnt planned on them coming up until Thursday night but they came up early to surprise me! We went to bed and well... thats the Thursday from Hell story...
In the middle of Thursday from Hell Kennedy worked on her wheeler. She learned how to take out her battery and the difference between a Philips and a flat head screwdriver. She also learned something very important on her road trip with Grandma Chris
The lady they picked up (see next story) was asking Kennedy what her favorite holiday was. She said Christmas. But not just because Santa brings me presents, even though that part is very important. Mom said something about Christmas being Jesus's birthday. That stopped Kennedy cold in her tracks. She said "WHAT!??? Christmas is Jesus's birthday!?? You gotta be kidding me?? I thought Labor day was his birthday.. you know cause you go into labor!!!" I have no idea how she missed this part in life but apparently she did...
Kennedy was full of it this week. She also grabbed two sticks and tried like hell to start a fire by rubbing them together... so she decided she needs to be a girl scout so she can learn those things. She was disappointed to find out girl scouts dont do fun stuff like start fires.
She also was educated when my mom asked her if she wanted one or two ears of corn. She had this weird look on her face so my mom asked her again. She said "I have two ears but why would I eat them!?" My mom tried to explain to her that corn is called ears. She wasnt having it. I dont ever call them ears. Its just corn or corn on the cob. So she kept telling Grandma its a cob not an ear and couldn't figure out why she needed to eat her ears.
We cranked up a little music in the trailer as I was cleaning. AC/DC to be exact. She recorded a dance video on her tablet while it played.
We were getting ready to go for a drive and she had to lock up her wheeler. She took the brake cables from the camper and tied it around the handle bar and back so no one could steal it.. and then she had to change its oil (its a power wheels.. there is no oil) but she was taking good care of it.
We made a road trip over to the cabin to drop off the four wheeler trailer for the next month when its rifle elk and deer season. The leaves are starting to turn already!
Friday evening we went out to hunt again. We had to have good luck this time right!? We all went on the hillside where we had seen the elk the day before. Chris went to the other hillside to spot for us. Phils in one spot. Dads on the the south side of the trees from him. Todd and I are to the west and north of Dad. We have this place covered. There is no way for them to cross over the top and not pass by one of us. We were ready. Dad started calling. We had elk answering all over. Below Todd and I we could hear a few bulls bugling in the trees. Some to the east of us too. We worked them into where we were and all they had to do was step out of the tree line thats about 20 yards below us. Just a few steps and it would be over. Well they decided to get distracted and start fighting with each other in the trees instead of coming out and crossing to go to water like they had done almost every night. Dads got two below him we can hear. I moved over by where he was and they were only 5 yards in the trees shaking, raking antlers, bugling and they will not take just a few steps out into the open. The brush and trees are so thick you cant see them through it, you can just see the trees they are shaking. They stop coming towards us and start fighting with each other. You gotta be kidding me! So then its almost dark. We walk out to where Phil is and Todd sees a big bull run over the top not far from us. We head towards him and hes already down over the hill. That was the last night of the spike/cow hunt for Dad, Todd and Phil. They werent able to fill their tags.
That next morning Dad and Chris come in with me to where we had the elk the night before. They are both going to call and put me in the middle hoping anything coming to either of them will come to me. Todd goes across the other hill to watch and radio to us where they are. Its almost light. We have bulls bugling all below us coming up the hill. I am hiding behind a tree. I have a cow come running from behind me. All the elk should be coming from in front of us. She doesnt even see me. She is 5 yards from me and heads down the hill towards the bulls. Its just about light and I have lost my range finder. I cant find it anywhere so I figure oh well I'll just guess. I can hear the bull getting closer and closer.. then all of a sudden I hear a buzz and get stung on the jaw by a bee! What the hell!! I thought well I hope Im not allergic to bees. I cant ever recall being stung by a bee only wasps. The elk keep coming towards us and then the stupid cow turns them to the west. The bulls that are less than 60 yards from us just over the crest of the hill start fighting. The cows start working towards us again (were talking a heard of about 30 elk) The herd bull comes out and starts funneling the elk up the draw directly towards us. The herd bull is a good size but there are also some smaller decent elk in the herd. I dont care I'll take whatever one I can get a shot at. The elk are so close to us now and just about to cross the top of the hill when all of a sudden a massive bull elk comes out and knocks around the herd bull and throws him down hill and steals the entire herd! He takes the herd and pushes them back down into the trees and to the west. Freakin killin me! We cannot catch a break! Dad Chris and I start heading towards the west to try and catch them in the trees
They push into these trees and stay there. The main herd goes west and we have a few straggler bulls just inside the trees bugling at us. We cannot get them to come out of the trees. They head off to the west.
By this point its been a few hours since I got stung. Its still throbbing like crazy so I take off my face mask to see if the stinger is still in my face.. yep it was. Dad took it out with my pocket knife.
We hiked down a draw and Todd came to pick us up in the truck. We go back to camp. My jaw is all swollen so I dose up on Benadryl and IB profin while Dad cooks breakfast. Todd and Kennedy are packing up to head home. His hunts done. He wants to get out before the traffic gets bad. Janas at home. Hes exhausted and doesnt feel well. So we pack them up and send them on their way. Miss K was excited for a sleep over
All this for 5 people!
We sat out in the sun while breakfast was finishing.
My Benadryl kicked in and I was struggling
I went and took a 3 1/2 hour nap. It was amazing. Then it was time to go out for the evening. Chris and I headed to the same hillside we had seen the elk at. We had picked I was going to sit by where I was the morning before. The same alley they should be crossing as long as the new herd bull didnt take them somewhere completely else. We started hiking the hill and glassing around.
We get almost to the spot where I am going to sit and I see tire tracks in the grass. Its all blocked off. Its a foot trail only.. so the fact there were tire tracks were a little perplexing. I tell Chris I dont remember seeing these tracks before? Maybe I just didnt pay attention. We turn the corner to the 'alley way' lined by trees that the elk had been crossing through and BAM! Theres a stinking sheep camp parked there. $*#&@&*^$&*#^$^#&*$^@&!!! Elk and sheep dont mix. When sheep move into an area they push out all the deer and elk.... so now this spot sucks and is no good.
Chris and I decide to walk to the west where we saw the elk go into early that morning in hopes we could catch them down there. We start heading into a grove of trees and an elk bugles. We stop and hide in the trees and start calling him. He gets closer and answers us back. We bugle again and hes really close and then hes gone. Its silent. Hes completely left and we cant figure out why. Dad calls us on the radio a few minutes later and says "So remember where I told you all the elk were... now there is a sheep herder sitting out there on his horse talking on his cell phone" son of a!!! So we think ok maybe there is a little more hope. We will just move further into the trees and maybe find them.. Then dad breaks us with more bad news a minute later. All the sheep just moved into where were going to go! FINE! We talk for a minute and decide we will just hike out. Dad is on the ridge of where we decide to go in the morning. He just had two guys blowing elk calls wearing orange hunting grouse walk through.. and a few minutes later two guys with four kids hunting grouse come through the area. The kid is blowing an elk bugle horribly. They look up and see Dad on the top of the ridge..hes all in camo with a bow.. obviously hunting. They zigzag back and forth through the place hes looking below and then head straight up the hill to come talk to him! What is wrong with people these days. I am beyond frustrated at this point. To top it off the radio channel we are trying to talk to Dad on all of a sudden has some little girl on there going "whose talking out there!? why are people on here? " and then she keeps hitting the call button that makes all the tones and covering up our traffic. So Chris and I walk out to where we are going to meet Dad and we got there a little sooner. So we just keep walking. We had walked probably a mile and a half at least before he got to us. It was dark by this time and we headed back to camp for dinner.
We are eating dinner and Phil and Mom tell us they got into a bunch of elk that night. They had them bugling all over like crazy. Sure why not. Lets just top off the night with that! So they show us where it is on the map and how to get there. They said you can drive right to it and drop down over the hill but its probably best if you go this way.. and hike in about 2 miles and come up from the bottom so you can catch them crossing. Oh two miles isnt a big deal we can handle that. We look at the map. Decide where we are going to start at and head off the next morning.
We park and set the GPS to our starting mark and start down this trail in the dark. This isnt bad at all. We didnt realize but we kept going down hill. Then we looked up and realized how much we needed to walk UP to get out. Sigh. So we went about two miles and they said three canyons come together in some pines and there is 3 pond there. We couldnt find them. We put in the GPS coordinates and got within .20 miles and said hell no. The terrain was horrible. Straight up and straight down. Heavy thick brush and timbers.
We side hilled around the side of this steep mountain. Chris and I were done. He kept telling me to leave him there for the coyotes. I told him hell no. If he was going to get to relax and wait for the coyotes to eat him I was going to relax and wait too! We made the loop around the mountain and decided it was probably easiest to keep making a loop and go back to the original trail. We had some elk bugling around us but they were pretty far away and not wanting to play. We went through all the fallen trees and old lumber areas. Walking was a pain in the ass and sucked. We finally made it back to the trail and started our climb back UP. It was horrible. The sun was coming out. I stripped off half my clothes half way up. Chris kept asking where Kennedys magical horses were she rides all over. I said I'd sell my kindey for a helicopter or horse. We finally made it back to the truck. 7 miles and 4 hours later. Its a good thing too. My legs were shaky and my vision was getting blurry. We were so tired we could harldy climb back into the truck. We had to go back and pack up camp. Dad had made cinnamon rolls while he was cooking breakfast and I shoved two of those bad boys in my mouth and washed them down with a Dr Pepper before you could blink. We packed up camp and everyone but us pulled their trailers out. We left ours there because my hunt ends on Friday and we are going to try and go up this week.
We had a rough go this last week but at the same time it was so much fun and we made so many good memories. We had a lot of time spent with some amazing people and you cant trade that for anything!!
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